“The typical upper-river sternwheeler, displacing perhaps 300 tons, drew a mere 20-to-30 inches of water, burned some 25 cords of hard wood a day. In emergencies, it could lift itself over shallows by means of special stilt-like spars poised on its bow. In the ’70s, military as well as civilian passengers were carried, for there was increasing Indian trouble, much of it traceable to Chief Crazy Horse and his Ogalalla Sioux.”

The Murray was plagued by “snags”, fallen trees submerged in the water, and considerable efforts were made to clear the river of these threats to shipping by using barges equipped with steam-driven winches. In recent times, efforts have been made to restore many of these “snags” by placing dead gum trees back into the river. The primary purpose of this is to provide habitat for fish species whose breeding grounds and shelter were eradicated by the removal of “snags”.

While training, Samuel convinced his younger brother Henry to work with him. Henry was killed on June 21, 1858, when the steamboat he was working on, the Pennsylvania, exploded. Twain had foreseen this death in a detailed dream a month earlier, which inspired his interest in parapsychology; he was an early member of the Society for Psychical Research.[18] Twain was guilt-stricken and held himself responsible for the rest of his life.

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